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I'm just tickled to learn that one of the circuit's stars is named Bushwacker.

I think most drum corps would say that having provided thousands of members with wonderful experiences is indeed a marker of success.

Correct, Brian. Mike's will start to do push-ups once his lumbago* departs. *Side effect of being a non-snare member back in those experimental years of the late '60s and '70's. Back strain also was the trophy of many a 'percussionist" back then.

That sounds like the old Steve Martin joke: "Do you want to know how you can make a million dollars and not pay any taxes?" "First, you make a million dollars." What you go on to say in that post is, more or less, that people just like bull riding more than they like drum corps. Garfield's response to my request, about what PBR specifically did that DCI did not, was to bring in people from outside the activity to manage it. That might help, as long as those people don't try to change drum corps into something else. Having a live Finals broadcast of just five corps, as he suggests might be needed for sponsors to come on board, wouldn't necessarily change the fundamental nature of the activity. It's actually been tried before. I remember returning to my hotel room from the wedding reception I was attending in Wheeling in August 1999 to see PBS broadcast just the top five. (The only problem would be if, say, number six had moved up but hadn't been broadcast. The way that NBC often handles the challenge of making sure the highest-placers in multi-competitor events in the Olympics is usually to show the event in delay.) Horn Teacher notes that "an exquisitely performed 2 1/2 octave sixteenth note run by 150 horns will never" be of interest to more than a specialized audience. Garfield, as a drummer, you may wish to substitute some mark of excellence from that side of the activity. Would you be OK with losing the top performance level, dumbing-down the activity, as it were, in order to boost sales? Let's go for an easy analogy: is Britney Spears really better than the Chicago Symphony just because she makes more money? (I don't know how financially successful Spears is right now, but substitute whatever famous pop-star whom you happen to think is really no good.) Which is really to say: why do drum corps exist? What are their purposes? Should it be to make money for shareholders? Does the Blue Devils organization exist to make money? That's a financially successful corps, right? So why haven't they turned for-profit?

For the gringoes among us, here's a sombrero...

So the corps is the Dovels?

What could present more edge-of-the-seat fear and danger than Hop pacing the sidelines at Finals? (/sarcasm)

I think what he is getting at is - what do you consider growth: fewer musicians with more eyes on them, or more musicians with fewer eyes on them? Naturally, the ideal is more musicians with more eyes on them.

Hoo boy... time to call the guy who collects misheard song lyrics... always thought it was thistle.... Guess I wore out my "oldies collection" that I bought *gag* 40 years ago (yeah problem is the vinyl, not the guy listening, sure)..... Or wore out my hearing playing it..

The kids from Bristol are sharp as a pistol when the do THE BRISTOL STOMP! Taught by Bob Adair ... soloist = Bill Pusey :-)

I'm not sure I get what you're saying: are you saying a DCI merger of some sort with an entertainment agency and/or entertainment endorsement agency would be awesome? I would guess that DCI or its member corps haven't thought too much about that (though maybe BDE has), and to be kinda blunt I'm not sure DCI would have much to offer at this point. Assuming the figures in this article are true, DCI doesn't have near the national, let alone global reach of PBR (which FWIW I had to read/look up to see what the H it was). It would be cool to see a power agency like WME/IMG help broaden DCI's reach, though I would assume that partnership would come at concession for DCI (such as, maybe, change in programming to better attract new, mainstream audiences). I think at this point, after DCI's attempts to partner with ESPN kind of fizzled out for one reason or another, it's OK to accept that DCI is a niche of a niche entertainment/educational activity. They currently don't have the infrastructure to be much bigger than that, and I wouldn't be surprised if they are OK with where they're at. I get wanting to see our activity grow to a larger audience is enticing, but I also think it might be more prudent to focus on more attainable goals/improvements DCI can work on

Then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out.

Well it's a good thing they put trained professionals out on the field instead I guess.

Barstow?

Well ... winds. Not that it is an important distinction around here.

"bluecoats are wearing black"

That's what we like to call in the industry...a photo edit. The uniforms are actually blue, but in this edited picture they appear black. Calm down, everything will be okay.

From the clips I have heard, I think I am really going to LOVE this show. Funny thing about Cadets, for me I either really love their shows, or I really dislike them. To me they are the most up and down corps from a music/design standpoint. Shows like This I Believe, Sarah Jones, 12.25 and last year, I didn't care for at all. But I will admit even though I didn't like those shows, I am not sure they shouldn't have place a spot higher for the 12.25 show, and last year, even though I loved Bluecoats(first time ever Bluecoats were my favorite corps show of the year), I am not completely convinced they should have edged out Cadets for 2nd. The performance level on almost every level was better from Cadets over Bluecoats from what I saw. Cadets also have a way of surprising me. 2 years ago when they did the Bartok show, I was not expecting to like it since it seemed like a redone Star/SCV show. But that show turned out amazing, and was my 2nd favorite show of the year, behind SCV doing an old Cadets show with Les Mis. I actually thought between the show design and performance level at finals, that possibly Cadets should have actually won in 2013. There are lots of things I disagree with Hopkins on over the years, but I do give him and the Cadets credit for having the best preseason media and information available. And even on years where I don't care for the show music or design, I will say that those kids are performing the heck out of those shows. But this I am really looking forward to seeing that full show on the field. I think this will be a great show from them. And thanks to Hopkins and crew for alllowing us to hear parts of the show so early before the season begins.

I love drum corps but I don't think I have ever felt that way about it...

Crown...Blue Devils...Bluecoats...yeah, they were all pretty good. But did they make people cry? Did ANY corps make people cry? Yes...Blue Knights, because of the amazing combination of brass, percussion, guard, visual and narration, made people cry.

You do realize that most people outside our activity feel the same about what we do don't ya.

I don't think a drum corps would fit one of these reality T.V. shows. I think a better idea is for Drum Corps to have one of it's own.